The UN has strongly recommended that the Indonesia government accelerate its work on the establishment of a task force on indigenous people to defend their rights
he UN has strongly recommended that the Indonesia government accelerate its work on the establishment of a task force on indigenous people to defend their rights.
The UN's special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, said Sunday that Indonesia should work harder to tackle big challenges in relation to the recognition of indigenous people's rights.
'[Establishing a task force] is very important as the first step to push for the law to recognize the rights of indigenous people. I fully support the plan to set up the task force, and use the task force to push the law further,' she said after the opening ceremony of the Nusantara Festival to celebrate the International Day of the World's Indigenous People on Aug. 9.
Tauli-Corpuz voiced appreciation that Indonesia adopted the UN Declaration on Indigenous People's Rights in 2007 and stressed that the country should seriously implement it.
She said she would also like to see more progress following a Constitutional Court decision in 2013 recognizing customary forests as the territories of indigenous people.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Alliance of Indigenous People (AMAN) secretary-general Abdon Nababan said he appreciated the government's efforts to work together with the group in ensuring that the process to recognize indigenous people's rights continued on the right track.
He said the term of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo was a moment of reconciliation between the state and indigenous people, who had lost trust in the government after being neglected for 70 years since the nation gained independence in 1945.
'However, regaining trust in the government will not be easy because many indigenous people are still being criminalized for defending their rights. I urge the President to address this problem, because it will be a good start to reconciliation.'
AMAN representatives met with the President in June to discuss the establishment of the task force.
The task force will fill the void while the government prepares for the establishment of a more permanent government body.
During his presidential campaign, Jokowi pledged that, if elected, he would establish an independent body that would report directly to him as the president. The body would be tasked with preparing regulations and policies related to indigenous peoples' issues.
The task force could also push for the endorsing of the indigenous people's rights acknowledgment and protection bill, the deliberation of which has been stalled in the House of Representatives.
Abdon said the group initially hoped that the government would have finalized the establishment of the task force and announce it on Aug. 9.
However, the group will have to wait longer, since the draft of a presidential decree on the establishment of the task force has not been completed.
Meanwhile, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said the establishment of the task force was in still under way because many elements needed to be harmonized.
'We are still formulating the policy. But indigenous people should not doubt the government's political will and commitment in actualizing and implementing law to protect their rights,' she stressed.
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